Drei Männer im Schnee (1955)

The eccentric, good-natured Privy Councillor and millionaire Schlüter wants to study people. Under the name “Schulze,” he enters a competition run by his own company, the world-famous Schlüter Works. “Schulze” wins second prize: a ten-day stay at the Grand Hotel in Bruckbeuren, in the Alps. Schlüter travels there disguised as a poor man, hoping to see how people in such a setting react to someone down on his luck. He takes his longtime servant, Johann Kesselhut, along as his companion. During their stay at the hotel, Johann is to pretend to be a wealthy businessman on holiday and act as if he does not know Schlüter. Worried about her father, Schlüter’s young daughter Hildegard phones the hotel before he leaves to prepare them for the visit of the disguised millionaire, but she does not get around to giving his name. By mistake, Dr. Fritz Hagedorn, an unemployed advertising executive who won first prize in the competition, is taken for the rich man and showered with comforts by the hotel management. Schlüter, meanwhile, is put in a small, unheated attic room, harassed by the staff, and assigned odd jobs in the hope of driving him away. On the very first day, he and Kesselhut become friends with Hagedorn, even though the horrified staff tries to prevent any conversation between him and the guests they believe to be wealthy. Johann tells Hildegard about the mix-up and its consequences. Unable to bear staying at home any longer, she arrives at the hotel accompanied by Schlüter’s housekeeper, Frau Kunkel, who is posing as Aunt Julchen, to check on her father. Fritz happens to meet Hildegard “Schulze,” and they fall in love. He has no idea of Hildegard’s true identity or her family connection to “old Schlüter.” After Hagedorn—supposedly thanks to Kesselhut’s intervention, though Kesselhut had already told him that he knew Schlüter well—gets a good job at Schlüter’s company, he immediately wants to get engaged to Hildegard as well. Hotel guests have complained about Schlüter, so the management tells him to leave. He returns to Berlin with his daughter, butler Johann, and housekeeper Frau Kunkel. Their departure is so hurried that there is no time to tell Hagedorn. Before leaving, Hildegard informs the hotel director and the porter that they had mistaken the wrong prize winner for the millionaire. The hotel director and porter are horrified and fear for the reputation of their Grand Hotel. Desperate and unaware of what has happened, Hagedorn also returns to Berlin and searches in vain for his Hildegard, whom he has to assume is called Schulze. Then Schlüter invites Hagedorn and his mother to his home under his real name, supposedly so that he can meet his new employee. When “Mr. Schulze’s” true identity is revealed, it does not end their friendship. Hildegard also reveals that she is Schlüter’s daughter. During the celebratory dinner that follows, Schlüter is told over the phone that he already owns the Grand Hotel—which he had intended to buy so he could then throw out the porter and the director.